a/n: just for you guys not to forget; the narrations will be made from Chaerin's point of view
It started in July, on a Thursday that should have been normal like every other so far.
End of semester is always a mess.
There are people who finish their exams and disappear from college, carrying with them the certainty that their grades were so excellent that they no longer have to worry about anything until the beginning of next semester, as well as there are people who go into despair and, in cases more seriously, they drop out of courses because they are no longer willing to shell out the significant amount that the facilities imposed as a condition.
Fortunately, I fit into the first group, because I struggled to keep the averages in the assessments and devoted myself to all the work, aware that they were always worth more.
Still, at that end of the semester, however, the mess — not necessarily related to academia — was finally present in my day and, unlike the others, it had a first and last name.
I don't know if it was the idea of the dean or any of the institution's coordinators, but scheduling a lecture in the auditorium, when the rooms were not even forty percent full, could have been too frustrating. I myself was only there to deliver a work that was accidentally lost from the portfolio and my courage to endure three massive hours of content that we would have to review in the next period was less than zero, although neurolinguistics was a subject that interested me greatly.
Given my almost tangible indisposition, I really would have gone home without even thinking twice, yet, there was an obstacle: Kim Taeyeon, our favorite professor.
Taeyeon was one of those people who you can't say no. She knew how to convince anyone without even saying much, so much that five minutes of conversation was enough for the fifteen people in the class to give in. In my case, I was sorry to say no to her little eyes and was seduced by the promise of several additional hours we would earn at the end of the course. Besides, I didn't have much to do outside, because, even though Jisung was in our house, we would do nothing but waste our time watching old movies.
So I went.
We were not alone in the auditorium, the medical and physiotherapy classes gathered there as well as the latest sound and image details were organized by the team responsible for structuring the lecture.
My class has never been an example of friendship and collective companionship. From the beginning of the course, the room was divided into a dozen cliques that rarely mingled with the rest any longer than group work required.
Personally speaking, I had nothing against anyone, but I felt more comfortable around three specific people: Lee Minho, Ha Sooyoung and Jeon Jungkook.
Because of fate, none of the three came to class that day, so I sat in any chair, not paying attention to my company until the end of the lecture, and perhaps that was my first slip.
I could have stood by San, Mingi, and Wooyoung, even though they had an annoying craze of laughing too loudly in inappropriate places, or maybe I could have ignored how Jinah looked in love at Im Jaebum and sat next to her and Jade, but no. I preferred to be alone and kept going for the next few minutes until he asked if he could sit in the empty chair next to mine and what must have meant nothing turned out to be everything.
My movements were limited to a shake of the head. If he found me rude, he didn't show it. But the truth was, I couldn't express any kind of more energetic reaction, and that should not have happened.
Kim Seungmin was a boy as normal as anyone there, with his frayed jeans and brown hair. There was nothing different about him, nothing that made him stand out from the rest.
So, why did he look so unique right away?
— "There are more people here than I thought," — he said suddenly, looking around. I believe that he also wasn't putting faith that someone would really be interested in neurolinguistics at this point in the championship. His in-depth analysis ended when he rested his eyes on my face. — "Physiotherapy?" — he suggested with a slight smile. It took me about four full seconds to realize that he was referring to my supposed course.
— "Psychology," — I said, returning the smile without even realizing it.
— "I would have been a psychologist if all my vocational tests had not pointed to medicine." — his voice was kind of nasal and soft as a feather, the kind you want to hear when you need to relax. It was sweet. — "By the way, I'm Kim Seungmin."
— "Kwon Chaerin."
— "You're not from here, are you?"
Another fact that I discovered about Seungmin that day was that he loved to talk, which should have repelled me a little. I was never the kind of person who talked a lot, especially to those who had just met, but, the ease with which our subject unfolded for the next few minutes surprised me.
I told him that my mother's whole family lived in Canada, so I was born there, and he told me that his dream was to visit the United States. Then, we started talking about what we thought about South Korea, from my foreign perspective and from his native perspective. Luckily, the place we were in was one of the most empty of the auditorium, so our whispers didn't disturb the lecture, which had begun at some point that went unnoticed by both of us.
— "What surprises me is that our rooms are in the same building and we had never seen each other until today," — he commented between conversations.
— "Yeah," — the low laugh tore from my lips effortlessly and, pleasantly comfortable at his presence, I leaned my arms against the back of the chair and added: — "But I think we can change that now."
Seungmin opened his lips, but gave up saying anything when his eyes met the thin golden band on my ring finger, and I was ashamed to say that only then did I remember the existence of that detail.
I had a fiance at home and would marry him very soon.
It wasn't as if Jisung and I couldn't develop new friendships. Our relationship was healthy, just as our trust in each other was mutual. However, I needed to be honest with myself and admit that my glances on Seungmin and his glances on me were not as unpretentious as recommended for a committed woman.
And I cannot blame him at all, for, as soon as he became aware of the weight of my wedding ring, Seungmin wilted, forced a small smile, and replied lightly: — "Of course."
And even if his statement showed everything but the certainty that we would actually see each other from now on, I knew this was far from our last conversation.
「❀」
a/n: >so far< we can begin to conclude that Seungmin is a misunderstood little angel and the fool of the story is Chaerin
anyway, I ask you guys to try to understand their side. I'm not saying they're completely right, far from it, but this love thing sucks *lies, love is beautiful, it just depends* and pointing out the mistakes of others is very easy when you don't know what it's like to live a situation like this
could Chaerin have broken up with Jisung before getting involved with Seungmin? yeah, she could. could Seungmin have been irreversible in refusing to get involved with Chaerin? he could too, but they got it wrong and everyone makes mistakes, so keep an open mind to it
changing the subject, I don't know if you guys noticed, but "listen to me" starts at the beginning of the year (like, 2019) and here is July, so, is about a few months earlier (like, 2018). it's just a detail that I found interesting to point out in case someone didn't notice
finally, the chapters in this au are shorter and a thousand times easier to write, so I'm likely to update more often, okay?
